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Frag Topdog
Human male, born LY 883, in Tonad. Leader of the Ass-Kickers Unlimited. Frag's only known relative was his brother Brag, who was three years older than him. ("Frag" and "Brag" were not their real names, but nicknames they gave themselves. No one knows their real names.) They were orphaned in 893, when Frag was ten years old and Brag was thirteen. As they had no other family to take them in, they became street rats. Shortly thereafter, Brag joined a gang called Ass-Kickers Unlimited (or the "Aku"). In 897, Brag became the leader of the Aku, and made Frag his chief enforcer. Though only fourteen at the time, Frag was scrappier than anyone else in the gang, and won most fights he was ever in (whether with friends or kids from rival gangs). In 899, inter-village gangs were beginning to form. One such gang, InterGang, formed a branch in Tonad, led by Larami, the leader of the Victors. She soon began recruiting members of various other Tonadian gangs into her gang, but Frag and Brag both saw joining an inter-village gang as "selling out." Also around that time, gangs were beginning establish specific departments, such as enforcers. One member of InterGang, Rolf, was hoping to impress Larami so that she'd make him her chief enforcer. To do this, he challenged both Brag and Frag to a fight, though he didn't plan on informing Larami about this until after the fact. The two brothers agreed, but the fight got out of hand, and Rolf accidentally killed Brag. In a rage, Frag tried to kill Rolf. However, Rolf's girlfriend, without his knowledge, had brought Larami to secretly watch the fight. Larami had brought along another of her enforcers, Thom, whom she now instructed to break up the fight between Rolf and Frag. Larami personally apologized to Frag for what had happened, and reprimanded Rolf. Nevertheless, the incident reinforced Frag's opinion that inter-village gangs were bad news. After his brother's death, he became the Aku's new leader, and vowed they would never join any such gang. He also vowed not to call himself by the new term "don" for gang leaders, which even the leaders of independent gangs were beginning to do. Anyone who would later call him "don" of the Aku would suffer his wrath. When the surname law was passed in 904, Frag chose to call himself 'Topdog.' By that time he was 21, and some members of his gang questioned why he remained in the gang at all, when he was so vocally opposed to the new nature of gangs since 899, being more serious and "adult" than traditional gangs, which he said he wanted the Aku to continue being. Frag admitted it sounded hypocritical, but reminded them that there had never been a rule against people staying in gangs as long as they wanted to; the difference was that in traditional gangs like the Aku, that was a rarity, whereas newer gangs made that the norm. "Besides," he said, "I'm top dog in this gang, and I always will be." ("Top dog" is a Terran expression which on The Land would more reasonably be rendered as "top monog," since dogs don't exist on this planet. But such a Landian expression doesn't exist, so Frag uses the Terran expression. And no one dares to argue the point.) In 906, a new Tonadian gang called the Brills formed, mainly for protection against the Aku. However, over the next two years, the Brills carved out a niche for themselves which differed from that of the Aku, and the rivalry between the two gangs subsided. In 909, Frag met a 10-year-old girl named Mel, who turned out to be a surprisingly exceptional fighter. She was an orphan and a street rat when they met, and he offered her a place to stay. The two of them became friends, and in fact he began thinking of her as a little sister, the first family he'd had since his brother was killed. The next year, he made her his chief enforcer; even though only eleven, she could best any of his other enforcers in a fight, using her wits, agility, and expertise in various light weapons (daggers, slingshot, etc.) Since 912, Frag has occasionally lent the services of the Aku to Larami's newly established gang, the Illuminati. Some say he even asked if his gang could join hers, though anyone who knows him calls such a suggestion "utter bullshite." While Frag and Larami have never particularly liked or respected each other, whatever bitterness he might once have felt toward her has dissipated over the years, at least to an extent. Though it is said that Larami only accepts any help from the Aku because she is impressed by the skills of Mel, and hopes someday to recruit her into the Illuminati. Category:People